Cop in riot shooting to surrender today

MANILA, Philippines - A Manila policeman who allegedly shot dead a brother of another policeman during a riot in Sampaloc, Manila Saturday night sent surrender feelers yesterday.

Police Officer 3 John Simon Baltazar, assigned at the District Headquarters Support Unit of the Manila Police District, is the subject of a police manhunt after he failed to give himself up.

Baltazar said he will surrender anytime today to his superior, Superintendent Dominador Arevalo Jr., to clear his name.

Investigation showed that at around 11:35 p.m. Saturday, two groups of drinkers engaged in a riot at the corner of Main and San Anton streets in Sampaloc.

Marcial Raquero, 26, together with several others, was attending a birthday party at a compound along Main street. At the height of the party, Harry Jones Guzman, a fourth year Hotel and Restaurant Management student, went out with two others to buy ice in a nearby store.

It was at this juncture that Guzman and his friends figured in an altercation with Baltazar’s alleged friends who were drinking in an alley. A stoning incident between the two groups of drinkers ensued.

Witnesses said Marcial’s brother, Police Officer 1 Arnel Raquero, arrived and tried to pacify the warring groups. However, Baltazar reportedly did not believe that Raquero was a policeman and instead frisked him. Guzman reportedly tried to grab the service firearm of Baltazar, which resulted in a fistfight.

When the groups were pacified, Marcial was found with a gunshot wound in the head in front of their compound. Responding policemen rushed the wounded to the Mary Chiles Hospital, where Marcial died the following morning.

Guzman sustained head injuries and is now in serious condition at the same hospital. PO1 Raquero was also treated for head and body injuries and was sent home after treatment.

The fistfight, except for the actual shooting that reportedly transpired several meters away, was caught by a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera installed at the gate of the compound.

“We are relying on witnesses’ accounts for the shooting. However, all those involved in the (beating) of the other victims were identified through the CCTV (footage),” said Chief Inspector Erwin Margarejo, who heads the MPD’s homicide section.

According to Margarejo, Baltazar is the prime suspect in the fatal shooting of Marcial unless he surfaces to give his version of the incident.